Gun background checks expansion passed by Senate committee 5-3

The chief sponsor of a bill in the Minnesota House that would expand background checks for all gun purchases said its survival depends on a vote Thursday night, March 14, in the Senate.

Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, said he won't schedule a hearing for his gun control bill until the Senate Judiciary Committee takes up its version. If it passes, Paymar said he'll hear it in the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee, most likely next week. If it fails, he said, the bill most likely is dead.

"Whatever happens in the Senate, that will determine the fate of this bill," Paymar said Wednesday.

Paymar's bill calls for universal background checks for gun purchases and transfers, tougher penalties for those who sell to disqualified people and better prosecution of gun crimes. But an alternative bill, which has the backing of the National Rifle Association, doesn't include expanded background checks and has been gaining traction at the Legislature. It was introduced in the Senate on Wednesday. A majority of the state House already has signed on in support, as has the National Rifle Association and the Minnesota Sheriff's Association.

The alternative bill does beef up information included in the state's background check system, strengthens penalties for those who sell to disqualified people and gives prosecutors more tools to crack down on illegal gun owners.

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Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chaska, is the lead sponsor on the alternative Senate bill. She said more than 20 senators have signed on to the legislation, including five DFLers: Lyle Koenen of Clara City, Kent Eken of Twin Valley, Dan Sparks of Austin, Tom Saxhaug of Grand Rapids and LeRoy Stumpf of Plummer.

"It provides tools for enforcing current laws, not creating any new ones that will affect law-abiding gun owners," Ortman said.

The alternative proposal has miffed supporters of universal background checks, including Minnesota's police chiefs and officers, who say some legislators are caving to NRA pressure despite overwhelming public support for expanding checks for all gun purchases.

And any bill that doesn't include universal background checks won't have the backing of Paymar or his Senate counterpart. Nor will the bills have hearings before a Friday deadline for policy bills.

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, planned to take up his gun control bill in Senate judiciary panel on Thursday night and has said it will include universal background checks. Ortman could attempt to replace Latz's bill with her own. She said she hopes it doesn't come down to that.

"I hope that he'll reconsider," Ortman said. "A worthy chair would hear a worthy bill, and I have a worthy bill. Most of the bills that have been heard have been divisive, and this bill actually brings people together."

Latz said that ultimately a bill can't pass unless it gets through both houses. But he does think he has the votes to pass his bill, which includes universal background checks but also provisions from ortman's bill and ones to make it harder for those with mental illness to get guns.